The objective of this project is to evaluate and implement new methodology whenever it offers an advantage to recovery of microorganisms from cancer patient samples and to develop and standardize methods for performing accurate susceptibility tests. Chocolate agar with bacitracin yielded Hemophilus spp. in 77 of 225 sputum samples as compared to 28 from plain chocolate agar. Suppression of normal cocci allowed growth of more Hemophilus spp. and sometimes allowed earlier recovery of gram negative rods of fungi. The API Enteric Strip proved inadequate for speciation of clinically important saccharolytic pseudomonads. A total of 25 of 56 strains representing 5 species were misidentified. Czapek agar, which is a selective media for growth of fungi, and another enriched medium for recovery of Mycoplasma are under evaluation. A number of bacterial strains for which MIC's had been determined are being retested for gentamicin MIC's in media which has had Ca and Mg ions adjusted to recommended levels.